Microsoft announced today that efforts to integrate the open source Secure Shell (OpenSSH) protocol with Windows (Win32) are nearing completion.

The collaborative effort started almost two years ago, when Microsoft indicated that it was contributing code to the OpenSSH community. Microsoft also donated money to the OpenBSD Foundation, a nonprofit that oversees OpenSSH development and other open source projects.

The aim of the collaboration is to enable secure two-way remote server management, using Windows to manage Linux servers or vice versa. The integration will support the use of PowerShell as a common tool for remote management of those servers.